Look though, you see how the hilt itself isn't protected? It would be exceedingly easy for an adept opponent to cut through it.

Or you have to be so adept to effectively block with it there's little point. As designed it really only makes sense offensively for cutting other lightsaber handles or to give your opponent something else to worry about up close. (and to look kewl =). I'm sure it'll work for Luke... I mean, the mysterious Sith guy!

BTW, if anyone is curious what he may look like, an image of him with that sword has been floating around for a while.

Well, like I told Walter yesterday, my two immediate male coworkers, who are not in any way big Star Wars fans, had noted the exact time the trailer was going up and proceeded to frantically search for it, declaring it awesome as soon as they'd seen it. Marketing and a big legacy will do wonders.

Yeah, but I was stating what would have actually made it worthy of such praise and excitement. And I saw plenty of acquaintances online declaring it incredible as well. These were the same people telling me how Phantom Menace wasn't so bad 15 years ago. Once again, time will tell (except for me, I'll know right away again =).

I feel like I'm the only one who doesn't give a shit about how the saber looks=/

Not the best perspective for constructive analysis. Your previous statement implies you think it looks "awesome" though.

Which isn't necessarily a bad position, I think it looks neat myself if a bit anachronistic (that whole shot looks like Star Wars crossed with The Hobbit), it's just so clearly about style and change for the sake of change over any kind of sense. Not that that's ever been a problem in Star Wars, the series that brought us Imperial walkers and two fatally flawed Death Stars.

I love the sith and this light saber I'll admit looks cool. How it's used in battle is left to be seen but I don't know if I'll like it. I loved the way the original series handled saber battles, especially Darth Vader's style (uses the force a lot more) or even Luke's in episode VI. The saber fights had less flashy acrobatic light weight swinging moves aka episodes 1-3.

Do you think the rule of two is unfair since there can be a whole lot more jedi masters in comparison? How does that work.

Logged

At the end of time, a moment will come when just one man remains. Then the moment will pass. Man will be gone. There will be nothing to show that we were ever here... but stardust.

I love the sith and this light saber I'll admit looks cool. How it's used in battle is left to be seen but I don't know if I'll like it. I loved the way the original series handled saber battles, especially Darth Vader's style (uses the force a lot more) or even Luke's in episode VI. The saber fights had less flashy acrobatic light weight swinging moves aka episodes 1-3.

Do you think the rule of two is unfair since there can be a whole lot more jedi masters in comparison? How does that work.

No, Darth Bane instituted it because there was constant in-fighting within the Sith order, so it made a ton of sense. The only one to not follow it to a T was Sidious. He trained several (Maul, Dooku, Anakin), but never fully took on the rule until Vader came into play, and even then he was ready to get rid of him in favor of Luke possibly succumbing to the dark side.

Once Sidious killed his master, Plagueis, he embraced the rule of One because he thought the Rule of Two was unnecessary. He made it his because he destroyed the Republic one move at a time over the course of 50 years.

I hate all that stuff about as much a midichlorians, honestly. This whole thing is bringing out my elitist original trilogy only mentality, where none of that exists. When they first discussed there only/always being two, a master and an apprentice, I just assumed it was a vague way to say it's a safe assumption there's another out there because there's always a master and apprentice in such relationships, even with Jedi. For all I know that may have been all George Lucas' intended but then obsessive nerds and EU writers had to quantify the shit out of it (or he took from them like the Anakin/Obi-wan fight).

I like the Sith as much as the next guy, but a large part of me hopes they are gone for good with the deaths of Palpatine and Vader. They had a good run (kicking around for thousands* of years ain't bad), but I think there's better directions to go in by making the next generation of baddies dark Jedi who aren't affiliated with the Sith Order.

As far as why I don't like the new lightsaber? I think Griffith hit the nail on the head. The changes serve no practical purpose so what's the point? Plus I'm not a big fan of how it looks. It looks cool enough that I'd drool over it if it was a magic sword in a fantasy game. But as a lightsaber in Star Wars? Eh. But then again, compared to the EU's lightwhip this new lightsaber design is a work of art so maybe it's not that bad.

I like the Sith as much as the next guy, but a large part of me hopes they are gone for good with the deaths of Palpatine and Vader. They had a good run (kicking around for thousands* of years ain't bad), but I think there's better directions to go in by making the next generation of baddies dark Jedi who aren't affiliated with the Sith Order.

And in the original trilogy that's all Vader and Palpatine were as far as anyone knew. All the dark lords of the Sith crap was the EU and the prequels, and it's not like it was great stuff (rule of two, rule of one; sounds like rules for the bathroom). It basically just made the dark side of the force and the Star Wars universe seem smaller.

Eh, in my mind the EU is just as canon as it ever was for better or worse, and this movie isn't necessarily any more so. Like those other works, the only thing that will legitimize this is its quality.

Anyway, just for fun here's a mock up of the trailer with Luke added (skip to about 50 seconds in if you don't want to watch the whole thing again):

Belaboring the point to include my (worthless) $0.02. I hate to be that guy, but I really liked the lightsaber, even though it was basically the Darth Maul lightsaber reveal all over again, and was significantly less exciting.

Then again I was 7 or 8 when I saw the first trailer for Episode I, and even The Phantom Menace seemed like it was a great movie until I watched it again in high school.

That said, I immediately questioned the cross guard's practicality and thought it would probably be more dangerous to the user than the opponent, not to mention the design doesn't even allow it to function in the intended way. Wonder if they'll fix it in post after all the fans have finished complaining about it.

Anyway, the new filmmakers have already proven to be far more receptive to fan desires, which you could see as smarter and less stubborn, or lacking in integrity (I don't think Lucas had integrity, he was just an a-hole, but as a result of that and the prequel aftermath Disney seems desperate to please with "Star Wars made the right way"). After the "final" cast photo came out and there were the inevitable complaints about lack of diversity they declared, "but we weren't finished yet!" and immediately drew Lupita Nyong'o and Gwendoline Cristie right out of the comments section and current events (Oscars and Game of Thrones, respectively). It was either an amazing coincidence or some of the most craven fan appeasement I've ever seen. I guess we'll find out when we see what roles they actually have in the movie.

BTW, after being known only as Episode VII for so long, why have they completely ditched the Episode designation? I'd like to think they're trying to get away from Lucas' episode number insanity and trying to get back to them just having titles like The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi (but it's not like they came up with a great title logo). Or, to simply disassociate from the stinkiness of prequels and the pressure of being the successor to original trilogy. Though, I also suspect it's to homogenize all the movies and help legitimize the cheesy standalone spinoffs that presumably won't have episode designations at all. So, Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Star Wars: Han and Boba Fett Go To White Casle won't seem so different in stature.

...I managed to procure tickets from both sites (ju$t in ca$e ). Though I'm happy to see people making the obligatory asinine complaints about the servers predictably not holding up under what's probably an impossible demand, "GAWD, CLEARLY THESE IDIOTS WEREN'T READY FOR WHEN TENS OF MILLIONS OF PEOPLE ALL WENT ON THEIR SITE AT ONCE!" You know, as any responsible web host is prepared for and can easily manage with a few extra servers (if there's enough physically available on Earth at the time, that is =).

I want to see how insane the pre-sales are. Will this movie make a billion dollars before it comes out, or just a few hundred million? Man, it's going to be a real letdown!

For once I'm gonna stay out of the crazy madness of opening weekend, big queues for preferred seating and all. All the places I could find in New York that had reserved seats are sold out : /. Edit - just realized, the amount of crazy fans and reactions during the film will kill a lot of scenes for me, so I'll wait a few weeks after it's out to see it. I think *in such a dilemma*

'He Is Dragon' looks beautiful, trailer's in Russian and I have no clue what they're saying. Fans of Peter Jackson's work, check it out.

I think everyone was caught up in thinking they wouldn't be sold until the trailer was released, so I was able to get mine right at 7pm CST. Got the 7pm showing on the 17th.

Yeah, I used my powers of common sense to realize the series of events as described didn't make sense and to just be online around the time the trailer was said to go up/tickets sold because the sites would probably just go for it regardless of the trailer and it'd be a clusterfuck. I think I was wise to go directly through AMC too since fandango went down pretty fast, though AMC became basically worthless shortly thereafter.

For once I'm gonna stay out of the crazy madness of opening weekend, big queues for preferred seating and all. All the places I could find in New York that had reserved seats are sold out : /. Edit - just realized, the amount of crazy fans and reactions during the film will kill a lot of scenes for me, so I'll wait a few weeks after it's out to see it. I think *in such a dilemma*

Yeah, though I scored decent seats at a huge theater that'll likely make an even bigger spectacle of the whole thing, I'd much rather pay-per-view it. It can work the other way too though; I saw Crystal Skull at the midnight showing and I swear we all left the theater convinced it was a good time, because the act of all these people that loved the movies growing up going on one last unexpected hurrah with Indy was a good time, even if the movie itself turned out not to be.

I had mixed feelings on the last trailer. I was initially underwhelmed; maybe because it was more like a regular movie trailer for what's, presumably, just going to be a movie, rather than the return of some cultural phenomenon. It didn't hit me like the last one did right away ("THAT'S LUKE SKYWALKER TALKING, AND THAT'S HAN FUCKING SOLO!"). The presentation in the middle of a FOOTBAW GAME might have something to do with that too (just weird). Anyway, I felt it looked a bit underwhelming and familiar (desert and forest planet wuth X-Wings and Tie Fighters.. again!), bordering on overly nostalgic and self-aware (like Han basically talking about how awesome the original trilogy was and the bad guy being a literal Darth Vader cosplayer with Toys R Us voice changer). But, it's grown on me. I mean Han talking like that was cool, and the bad guy's fetish could really pay off depending on his identity and they should literally and figuratively pay respect to their roots, and it looking like a real movie and keeping it simple could serve it well in the long run (if the hype is impossible to live up to, at least just make me feel something, besides disappointment =). I'm maintaining that the best case scenario is a better Star Trek 2009, worst case a more disappointing, but only by default, Into Darkness.

I had mixed feelings on the last trailer. I was initially underwhelmed; maybe because it was more like a regular movie trailer for what's, presumably, just going to be a movie, rather than the return of some cultural phenomenon. It didn't hit me like the last one did right away ("THAT'S LUKE SKYWALKER TALKING, AND THAT'S HAN FUCKING SOLO!"). The presentation in the middle of a FOOTBAW GAME might have something to do with that too (just weird). Anyway, I felt it looked a bit underwhelming and familiar (desert and forest planet wuth X-Wings and Tie Fighters.. again!), bordering on overly nostalgic and self-aware (like Han basically talking about how awesome the original trilogy was and the bad guy being a literal Darth Vader cosplayer with Toys R Us voice changer). But, it's grown on me. I mean Han talking like that was cool, and the bad guy's fetish could really pay off depending on his identity and they should literally and figuratively pay respect to their roots, and it looking like a real movie and keeping it simple could serve it well in the long run (if the hype is impossible to live up to, at least just make me feel something, besides disappointment =). I'm maintaining that the best case scenario is a better Star Trek 2009, worst case a more disappointing, but only by default, Into Darkness.

You will feel like you feel about the Avengers movies. The people at Disney are too good to mess it up terribly like Lucas did with the prequel trilogy, but you can also be sure it will have been engineered to evoke all the right things for a variety of people, to the point where it's virtually impossible for it to live up to the true fan's ideal. That and the Star Wars universe has only been growing smaller and less amazing over time as they kept defining it around the elements of the first three movies, preventing it from expanding in the ways that matter.

Pretty much spot on, but if it accomplishes for Star Wars what the Avengers movie did for Marvel, but as a reclamation project in this case, that wouldn't be bad at all. One problem is, Avengers 1 and a couple others aside, those Marvel movies epitomize cheerful competence and adequacy. Nice, but that won't be enough here.

If only it would end after this! Too bad the stated plan is literally to run it into the ground, and with such uninspired ideas (shrinking the universe as you said), like how the death star plans got stolen (I wonder how it will end!? Sequel idea: how DID those Bothans die!?) and movies focusing on characters that hinted at nothing larger and required no additional fleshing out, but for which they're just going to make up stories for anyway. I can't wait for the spinoff of the Boba Fett franchise about the life of the Sarlac Pit, or how about Rancor Trainers: The Movie.